Pakistan is launching an e-passport for its citizens from 28 April 2021 says the interior minister Mr. Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad. The new e-passport’s design has not been finalized yet. On the other hand, DGIP is also silent on further information about e-passport issuance and its details. The e-passport is known by many names such as the biometric passport, e-passport, ePassport, or a digital passport. This is a traditional passport that has an embedded electronic microprocessor chip that contains biometric information that can be used to authenticate the identity of the passport holder. An e-passport has a contactless (NFC) chip on it which means that those passports can be read electronically. The currently standardized biometrics used for this type of identification system are facial recognition, fingerprint recognition, and iris recognition.
Pakistan’s new e-passport related news has been taken very positively and as news of happiness among Pakistanis. This will indeed create a new milestone for having the nation’s most important international document modernized (big media houses such as Khaleej times, geo tv, and bol news have also published this news). Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed on Thursday (24.12.2020) announced three important things about Pakistani passport:
- The government of Pakistan will launch a new E-passport from April 28, 2021 (some other sources say from 1 May 2021)
- Extension of passport’s duration into 10 years instead of 5 (the fee will remain Rs 3,000 and this decision will be implemented from January 1)
This is indeed not new news for many as in March 2020, the Ex. Director of DGIP Ishrat Ali made this announcement of introducing the e-passport while briefing the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Interior. He at that time claimed that the system has been developed at a cost of Rs 534 million and can be described as clean, secure, and fully automated. He further added that the new and old systems will run simultaneously, but the fee charged under the new E-passport system will be slightly higher in the beginning. This indeed shows that no one is 100% if the e-passport will be launched from exactly May 2021.
This is the second time that Pakistan is making immense changes in its passport system. First time in 2004 when it introduced its first computerized passport. The government and the ministry have not yet decided how much will the new e-passport cost and what astonishing features will be brought into it. The new e-passport will not be able to get any improvement in its ranking, but step by step many countries will admire it as the data reach will become easier with the new e-passport. In the light of the past experience of passport changes, the new e-passport will not be mandatory and straight away implemented for all to apply for it. Instead, it will be made obligatory with the passage of time. Some also argue the government will allow the people to have had their previous passports expired and then to apply for the new e-passport, a typical norm.
Interior Ministry in cooperation with DGIP is also introducing other important features. SMS service is being launched to inform people six months prior to the expiry of their passports and home delivery of passport has also been started first from Islamabad with a further addition to Rawalpindi and then to the whole country. Pakistanis wishing to travel to the middle east will be issued a passport validity of 10 years with the fees of 5 years (the fee will remain Rs 3,000 and this decision will be implemented from January 1).
Passports are standardized by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization, part of the UN), countries have a choice as to which part of this standard they implement. According to ICAO, the biometric chip is normally not mandatory in the passport. On the other hand, the machine-readable travel document (computerized passport) is now mandatory for all countries to have since 2016. The European Union however required its member states to use a chip on the passport since 2004.
There is no exact data available from authentic sources that how many of the countries in the world are using biometric chips. According to the ReadID blog, 150 countries and regions issuing ePassports by 2020. According to different internet sources, the following are the countries that have a biometric passport:
- Austria
- Italy
- Belgium
- Latvia
- Bulgaria
- Lithuania
- Croatia
- Luxembourg
- Cyprus
- Malta
- Czechia
- Netherlands
- Denmark
- Poland
- Estonia
- Portugal
- Finland
- Romania
- France
- Slovakia
- Germany
- Slovenia
- Greece
- Spain
- Hungary
- Sweden
- Ireland
- Albania
- Algeria
- Argentina
- Armenia
- Australia
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bolivia
- Botswana
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Cambodia
- Canada
- Cape Verde
- Chile
- China
- Colombia
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- Egypt
- Fiji
- Gabon
- Georgia
- Ghana
- Hong Kong
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Japan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Lesotho
- Macau
- Madagascar
- Malaysia
- Maldives
- Sovereign Military Order of Malta
- Moldova
- Montenegro
- Mongolia
- Mauritania
- Morocco
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- New Zealand
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Oman
- Panama
- Peru
- Philippines
- Qatar
- Russia
- Rwanda
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Somalia
- South Korea
- South Sudan
- Slovakia
- Sudan
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania, United Republic of
- Thailand
- Togo
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Uzbekistan
- Venezuela
- Vietnam
- Zimbabwe